Texas lawmakers OK former Uvalde mayor’s effort to fix police failures in Robb Elementary attack

By JIM VERTUNO AUSTIN Texas AP Texas lawmakers on Monday passed a plan sponsored by Uvalde s former mayor to fix police failures laid bare by the hesitant law enforcement response to the Robb Elementary School shooting in sending the bill to the governor days ahead of the third anniversary of the massacre Related Articles Bureaucrats analyzing nihilistic writings of suspect in California fertility clinic bombing Sheriff says defective locks were a key factor in Louisiana jailbreak by men Q A Deborah Norville ending run at Inside Edition Freed from ICE custody Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi graduates from Columbia to cheers Jeanette Vizguerra held by ICE in Colorado named a winner of Robert F Kennedy human rights award Nineteen students and two teachers were killed and people were injured in one of the worst school shootings in U S history Saturday is the anniversary of the attack The measure given final approval by the state Senate and sent to Gov Greg Abbott is dubbed the The Uvalde Strong Act and is meant to correct the problems in the slow and often chaotic law enforcement response that day with better training and coordination between agencies and basic equipment requirements Nearly local state and federal officers waited more than an hour to force their way into a classroom where the gunman was before killing him Terrified students inside the classroom called as parents begged officers chosen of whom could hear shots being fired while they stood in a hallway to go in The bill s author first-year Republican state Rep Don McLaughlin was Uvalde mayor at the time and was critical of the law enforcement response that day The Uvalde Strong Act is aimed at fixing the breakdowns in communication and coordination that were exposed in the Robb Elementary shooting McLaughlin stated This is about keeping our schools safer We owe it to the families to take action that really matters The bill requires school districts and law enforcement to meet annually to develop proceeding shooter response plans and mandates officers be trained on how to respond to an current shooter at primary and secondary schools The measure also requires enhanced development command training and mutual aid agreements among agencies School districts would be required to have at least one breaching tool and ballistic shield available at each campus And the bill requires crisis therapeutic function providers to file reports if they are called to an ongoing shooter scene Multiple investigations into the law enforcement response located cascading problems in training communication leadership and apparatus and questioned whether officers prioritized their own lives over those of children and teachers Former Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo and former school police officer Adrian Gonzales have been charged with multiple counts of child endangerment and abandonment Both have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled for trial in October The families of the casualties have several lawsuits pending in federal and state courts including a million lawsuit against Texas state police bureaucrats and officers